Hyun Jin Ryu the ace shows up as the Blue Jays snap their losing streak

Things worth mentioning…

• This was the first time we got to see Hyun Jin Ryu pitch like an ace. In his first two starts as a Blue Jay, Ryu showed some flashes of brilliance, but he ultimately scattered eight earned runs over nine innings as his velocity was down and he didn’t seem to have the feel for his off-speed pitches. On Wednesday, Ryu came back and reminded everyone why he was signed to an $80 million contract. He tossed five shutout innings, collecting eight strikeouts. Ryu’s changeup was absolutely absurd as he got the Braves to whiff 14 times with the pitch. The only somewhat worrying part of Ryu’s outing is that he walked three batters, which is still more than you’d expect from the guy who had the fewest walks-per-nine of anybody in baseball last season.
• Beyond Ryu, Toronto’s bullpen was also incredibly impressive. Thomas Hatch allowed a solo homer to Adam Duvall, but that was the only damage (literally the only hit) that he, Ryan Borucki, Jordan Romano, and Anthony Bass would allow over four innings. It’s amazing how much stronger Toronto’s bullpen looks when we see Charlie Montoyo use the young arms like Hatch and Borucki.
• Through two innings of work this year out of the ‘pen, Borucki has four of his six outs via the strikeout. Borucki generated three whiffs on Wednesday and also hit 96 miles-per-hour on the gun. I know we’d all love to see him bounce back as a starter, but there’s shades of an Andrew Miller-style bullpen weapon there.

• The offence didn’t give much to talk about on Wednesday as the team generated just a couple of runs through small ball. Danny Jansen drove in Vlad Jr. on a sacrifice fly in the second and Cavan Biggio drove in Bo Bichette, who had just stolen second, with a single in the fifth. All told, the Blue Jays managed just five hits in the game.
• One positive sign I will mention is that Vlad hit a ball in the air and he hit it hard. So far this season, just about every hard-hit ball by Vlad has been driven right into the ground, but, this time, he smashed an offering from Sean Newcomb 390 feet to opposite field. More of that, please.